Does washing under the deck dull the blades?

[Keef]

The lawn mowers have the option to put a hose to the deck and clean underneath. Does that cause the blades to rust or dull them in any way. I am thinking if the grass is dry, I won't need to clean underneath the deck.

[RollTideRam]

In a perfect world, I would always mow dry grass. Sometimes you just have to mow when you can. I don't think it will hurt your blades or deck. JC

[Ob1kubota]

If you can wash your deck everytime you mow come on down here and do mine. Dirt in the grass dulls your blades and rocks and debris and just plain old heat and the interface with the blade and packed grass in the deck dulls your blades. Wash it all you want just don't put her up wet. When you sharpen your blades do not round off your outer edge it will skip cut straw grass and make your windrows look like Spanky's hair cut in the "little Rascals".

[BIGWES]

I read on another site that someone mows over a pile of leaves and said
that the leaves will take the grass off the deck. Has anyone tried this?

[Skipholiday]

I read on another site that someone mows over a pile of leaves and said
that the leaves will take the grass off the deck. Has anyone tried this?

Maybe that will work better than my wife's method..
Barbwire..

[Bird]

I most frequently clean my mower after each use with compressed air, both under the deck and on top. But a few times a year, I wash it good with water, then run it long enough for it to dry out good before putting it away.

[Ob1kubota]

Bird is right on, I blow off the tractor chassis with compressed air after every mowing and clean out the spindles on top the deck. My BX belt on a 60 inch deck caught on fire one night because the dryed grass spontaneously combusted because it was packed tight from over use without cleaning the clippings away from the heat generating components. This was a real thrill seeing my wife on a BX2230 screaming for help. Always carry an ABC type extinguisher with you on an all day mowing event.

[BIGWES]

Bird is right on, I blow off the tractor chassis with compressed air after every mowing and clean out the spindles on top the deck. My BX belt on a 60 inch deck caught on fire one night because the dryed grass spontaneously combusted because it was packed tight from over use without cleaning the clippings away from the heat generating components. This was a real thrill seeing my wife on a BX2230 screaming for help. Always carry an ABC type extinguisher with you on an all day mowing event.

Ob1kubota, just curious, how often do you remove the plastic shield over
the spindles when you are cleaning your deck with compressed air? Wow since reading what you went through with the fire on the deck, I don't never
want to park my tractor with grass all over it.

[sunspot]

how often do you remove the plastic shield over
the spindles

Once. I leave them off. My Husky blew a belt at 2 hours on the brand new mower because of debris. Now it is easy to clean and I can see how much is building up on the spindles.

[IslandManMitch]

In Florida you mow a lot of sand. The sand works like a sand blaster on mower decks. The paint is blasted off then it rust. The next time it does the same thing over and over until your deck is gone. I worked in a machine/welding shop one summer. For three months I mostly reskinned bush hog decks. When they were picked up the shop owner suggested every once in a while use a cheap spray paint to keep the underneath side painted. He said it did not need to be pretty just complete. I have a 12 year old Bush Hog brand bush hog that I have followed Ole Harvey's advice. Deck is still solid as new.